For the third straight day, Victory Poker pro Antonio Esfandiari leads the way in the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Five Diamond World Poker Classic. There are 15 players remaining and, as was the case after Days 2 and 3, Esfandiari owns a stranglehold on the rest of the field.
Esfandiari owns 2.6 million in chips and is the only player above two million. Hot on is heels is World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event runner-up John Racener, who owns a stack of 1.9 million. Racener, who entered heads-up play in this year’s Main Event as a 6:1 underdog in chips against Jonathan Duhamel, is in search of his first WPT final table. He bubbled the six-handed finale of the Season 5 Borgata Poker Classic, bowing out in eighth place for $166,000.
Legends of Poker champ Andy Frankenberger was the final casualty of the day on Monday at the Bellagio, the site of the Five Diamond. Frankenberger pushed all-in on a flop of Q-7-4 with two clubs and showed K-10 of the suit for a flush draw. He received a call from Kirk Morrison, who tabled 7-4 for two pair and dodged the draw on the river when the nine of spades hit. Morrison, the runner-up in the Season 5 WPT Championship, holds the fifth largest chip stack at 1.5 million.
Doyle Brunson, the face of DoylesRoom and the Five Diamond, was bumped in 18th place after an impressive run. Brunson ran A-J into the A-K belonging to Kia Mohajeri on his final hand and the board came 9-6-6-5-4. Coverage found on the official website of the WPT detailed Brunson’s exit: “The Fontana Lounge gives Brunson a hearty round of applause as he exits the tournament area.” Brunson has recorded three WPT final tables.
Eugene Katchalov, who won the 2007 running of this tournament, was eliminated on Monday in 19th place. Katchalov committed his stack with A-K and found himself in a race against Racener’s pocket queens. The board ran out five cards jack or lower and Katchalov headed to the rails with $33,000 in tow. Three years ago, Katchalov’s Five Diamond win was good for $2.4 million. Due to a lower buy-in and smaller prize pool, this year’s champ will take home just one-third of that total.
Also ousted yesterday was Absolute Poker pro Freddy Deeb. DoylesRoom Brunson 10 member Amit “amak316” Makhija made a boat with pocket jacks to send Deeb home in 24th place for $25,000. Makhija owns the 12th largest stack after four days of play in the WPT tournament at 756,000. He’s in search of his second WPT final table after finishing as the runner-up in the Season 7 Legends of Poker for $563,000.
Here are the 15 players remaining in the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic:
1. Antonio Esfandiari – 2,680,000
2. John Racener – 1,900,000
3. Andrew “good2cu” Robl – 1,750,000
4. Kia Mohajeri – 1,694,000
5. Kirk Morrison – 1,545,000
6. Luis Velador – 1,423,000
7. Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi – 1,380,000
8. Ray Dehkharghani – 1,148,000
9. Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger – 915,000
10. Vanessa Rousso – 888,000
11. Chris DeMaci – 801,000
12. Amit “amak316” Makhija – 756,000
13. Ted Lawson – 400,000
14. Danny Fuhs – 247,000
15. Charles Caris – 125,000
The tournament’s play down day will occur this afternoon and a winner will be crowned on Wednesday. If you’re at the Bellagio and want to rail the action on Tuesday, the tournament will be held in the poker room while the television set is being constructed in the Fontana Lounge. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest.
